M-Audio Microphone User Manual page 30

Close-Miking Drums. Much of today s music focuses so
strongly on the kick, snare and hi-hat that being able to mic these
components of a drum individually is fairly critical. At a minimum,
you also need a pair of overheads to catch everything else in
stereo. In a perfect world, you have enough mics and channels to
mic each element of the kit individually with the exception of
the cymbals (hi-hat excluded) being captured by the stereo
overheads. Cardioid or super-cardioid is ideal in most cases to
isolate the elements of the kit from one another.
• Kick Drum. If the front head is on the kick drum and there
is no hole in which to insert a mic, simply place the mic
close to the front head. Placing the mic inside the kick drum
provides more flexibility. Placement near where the beater
strikes the head produces a tighter, punchier sound, while
moving further out makes the sound larger and deeper. It is
common practice to experiment with various methods of
padding inside of the kick in order to increase punch and
reduce boom. Use as large a diaphragm as possible. (In fact,
some of the best kick drum mics are oversized dynamics
such as the EV RE20.) You may need to switch on the mic s
built-in pad if the sound pressure is overloading the
electronics of either the mic or the preamp.
• Snare. Snare drums are one of the few places where
dynamic mics are routinely used in the studio. One of the
reasons for this is that the snare mic is the most likely to be
hit by errant drum sticks. That said, you can certainly use a
condenser, especially in more subtle applications such as
those involving brushes. Standard practice is to angle the mic
down toward the drum at about two inches from the rim.
Moving the mic further in provides more attack and less
body something that is true for most drums. Snares are
sometimes dampened with duct tape, wallets and other
mechanisms if they are too lively. Some engineers routinely
place a condenser under the snare drum as a second mic
in order to capture the sizzle of the snares themselves.
• Hi-hat. Most engineers place a mid-sized cardioid
condenser facing down at the outer edge of the hi-hat.This
position tends to produce more of the sound of the stick
striking the cymbal, where moving it further inward
captures more of the quality of the bell. In either event,
orienting the cardioid diaphragm downward helps to reject
bleed from a neighboring overhead cymbal.
• Toms. As with the snare, tom-toms are often the domain
of dynamic mics like the Sennheiser 421 because of the
possibility of being hit by drum sticks. Here again,
condensers are perfectly valid in controlled situations.
Miking the toms individually provides the flexibility of
balancing, panning and EQing them separately in the mix.
• Overheads. A matched pair of condensers is the generally
preferred method of overhead miking. Mid-sized capsules
are used more typically than large capsules in this
application due to the smooth high frequency response.
6'
Choosing & Using Microphones
Placement of the mic in relation to the beater
head determines much of the tonal quality
The edge of a drum provides more tone,
while the center provides more attack
Miking the edge of a hi-hat yields more sizzle,
while moving it further in results in
more of the bell sound
Mid-sized cardioids in X-Y configuration
over the kit is the most common method
of overhead drum miking
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